Danny Meyer in at Gramercy Park Hotel

Danny Meyer is taking over the failed Wakiya space in Ian Schrager’s Gramercy Park Hotel, Diner’s Journal reports. “The restaurant, Mr. Meyer’s first new concept since The Modern opened four years ago, will be ‘Italian-inspired’ and will be designed by David Rockwell. A chef has not been named nor has the restaurant’s name been decided. It is scheduled to open in the fall.” Let’s remember, Wakiya had only 153 seats, but who knows, maybe its private dining room and events space (accommodating over 200 more) will now be opened up — it’ll be interesting to see what Meyer does here, and exactly how infuriatingly hard it will be to score a table.

Update: Danny Meyer tells the Observer why he’s going after the space (duh — he’s a fan of parks) and addresses rumors about whether he’s interested in the Rainbow Room (no), the Union Square park restaurant (no), and Tavern on the Green (maybe).